One among billions, and it just had to be me
by CommissarFlare
Summary: Tank Commander Ailer Rose was grounded without a driver for his Hellhound. Weeks later, a replacement arrives, but they arent exactly what the good commander had in mind.


Okay, so, this is my first Fanfic EVER. That I could be bothered to put on the site.

It's a momentous occasion for me, and it's a damn shame that I don't have any fireworks to set off, or any party gear to use. Ah well.

Still, as I said, this is my first fanfic, so be nice. Hopefully, you (the reader) will like what I have written.

I talk (write) too much. On with the story!

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><p>Chapter one – A crew of one<p>

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><p>Women were incredibly few and extremely far between within the ranks of the Imperial Guard. Those that did serve were either officers, trained specifically into the role, or they were due to very rare glitches in the paperwork which, unlike in the paperwork concerning the supply and munitions lines, did not happen often. The chances of a female enlisting into an Imperial Guard regiment were practically unheard of, as most of them dropped out during training. Not because they couldn't handle it, they were more than capable, but because they were in such an impossible minority and the peer pressure put on them by their colleagues. From the constant flirting to the uncalled for jokes and sheer rudeness shown towards the women, even by military standards. Some, however, endured these hardships and made it through the training unscathed, and more often than not on their way to leading quite successful military lives.<p>

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><p>Tank Commander Ailer Rose was out of action, and had been for three weeks. The small war with the Ork Waaagh! Ripp'torf (if you could call it a Waaagh!. It was more like a bunch of disorganised gits. Oh, wait; he had just described the entire Ork race in one sentence.) continued to rage across the planet, more bands of Orks popping up all over the place, and he was missing it. He was in charge of his affectionately named Hellhound, Cerberus. He had commanded it with a friend, Alestor, until three weeks ago. Ailer had warned Alestor not to get pissed the night before an inspection, and he hadn't listened. Alestor made it a point to get drunk when a squad of his 'good mates' were removed from the face of the planet, which was often. And now the tank was without a driver, leaving Commander Rose in his predicament. Normally, a replacement would arrive within few days, sometimes within a few hours, but the demand for chimera based vehicle drivers was high. For people who spent their entire lives inside tanks, they sure liked dying. An interesting fact about young Ailer was that he had been through three drivers, in just as many months. Since Cerberus only needed a crew of two, no one was directly on hand as a replacement when a driver, well... died. Some of the guardsmen he knew, correction, had known, had said that him and his tank were cursed because none of the drivers he had had ever died on the battlefield, always off duty, always in mysterious circumstances. Well, not mysterious, but you get why they thought he was cursed.<p>

He had been informed that a replacement would turn up within the week, and three weeks later, he was still waiting. He knew one would turn up eventually, but it had never taken this long, so he theorised that the supply ships had been shot down. Again. Ailer spent his time cleaning his tank, so she would make a good first impression on the newcomer.

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><p>Another four days had passed, and Ailer was beginning to think that the supply drops had been cancelled, full stop. Before this bout of being grounded at the camp, he had never been out of action for more than a few days at a time before and three weeks of being kept off the battlefield were driving him insane. He found himself thinking over the past few weeks, and he realised that being on the battlefield and being with Cerberus were pretty much the only things he did. He sighed as he polished the inferno cannon that was mounted on the tanks turret. A noise made him look up, but he realised that it was only a chimera being towed into the hanger, where the heavy armour was kept. It looked like it had taken a Rokkit strike to the rear, which only made Ailer want to go out and join the fight even more.<p>

Cerberus was now completely clean. Not a part of her didn't gleam, and the Commandeer was dead proud, but also worried. Now that his tank was spotless, he had no idea what he would do. He didn't like leaving his tank, but now that he had no reason to stay, he would look like an idiot just sitting around doing nothing. Nothing would happen to Cerberus while he was gone, he was sure of that. No one liked it when Commander Rose's tank was hurt. Even the sergeants only used Cerberus' thick armour plating as cover, unless it was that or outright die. They all knew how much of his life Ailer had poured into the machine, and they knew he loved it dearly. And besides, every guardsman had the common sense not to cross a man with a tank. That had been named.

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><p>A further two days passed and Ailer found himself absent-mindedly wiping down Cerberus' gleaming hull for the 17th time that day. His mind was spaced out and unfocused, so he didn't turn round when a crisp voice behind him said:<p>

"Reporting for duty, Sir!"

"Finally." He didn't bother turning round. "New driver?"

"Yes Sir!"

"What did you train on?"

"Chimera Sir! Pretty standard. Mars pattern, 38 tonnes, vulcanor 16 twin coupled multiburn power plant, Twelve soldiers transport capacity, and all that lark."

"Close. This is Cerberus. She's a Hellhound. A variant of the Chimera, same drive system, same power plant, same most things. She's Artemia pattern, crew of two, not three, and you won't be carrying soldiers in her. Ever. What was your name again?" Ailer finally put down the cloth and spray, and turned round. It was all he could do to stop his jaw from hitting the floor.

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><p>If I've got some facts wrong, or if there's bad grammar, or something trivial like that, leave a polite note. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading this chapter and there'll be more on the way.<p> 


End file.
